


Had to Have High, High Hopes For a Living

by thefaerielights



Category: Life with Derek
Genre: Arguing, Arguing Leads to Feelings, Casey is ticked off, Derek POV, F/M, Romantic Happenings, Teenage Hormones, and Derek doesn't know why
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 05:14:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15700509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefaerielights/pseuds/thefaerielights
Summary: Casey is ticked off and Derek has no idea why. Casey has no problem letting him know why, until they both realize that she's mad for a completely different reason. Obviously, this leads to FEELINGS for both of them, as well as some romantic happenings.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own Life With Derek - if I did, it would have lasted a lot longer and we would still be watching Casey and Derek banter, fight, and fall in love. Also, if there are any typos, feel free to yell at me - maybe then I'll finally start proofreading my own work.

_Had to have high, high hopes for a living_ _  
_ _Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing  
_ _ _\- “High Hopes,” Panic! At the Disco__

 

Derek knew that Casey was in a very bad mood the second she slammed the car door after school. She had been silent the whole ride home, but apparently her anger had been festering to the point that she had to take it out on the poor Prince. What had the car done to her?

Casey leveled a glare at Derek before she went stomping inside the house, so it was immediately clear that the car hadn’t done anything to her. He really should have figured that out right away. No one else could rile Casey up like he could, sometimes without even realizing.

As Derek followed her into the house, he thought back to what had happened that day. Casey had seemed like her normal, annoying self that morning, so it was definitely something that had happened at school. He had a few classes and the same lunch period as Casey, so they crossed paths plenty of times during the day.

There had been a few barbs, a “Space Case” or “Keener,” but he didn’t remember anything out of the ordinary. In his pre-Casey days, he would have jumped to the conclusion that she was PMSing or some other girly shit, but Casey’s feminist ways had rubbed off on him, even if he wasn’t going to admit it out loud. No, Casey would have a real reason for being angry, even if Derek might not agree.

By the time he had dropped his backpack to the ground (and then picked it back up after Lizzie and George both yelled at him for his lazy ways) and headed upstairs to get rid of it, Casey had slammed her bedroom door and was blasting some girl band. Derek rolled his eyes and went into his own room to turn on some music to rival Casey’s.

The music was so loud that Derek didn’t even hear the knocking on his door until Casey had shoved her way into the room. She slammed the door behind her because that was her favorite thing to do that day.

Derek had his phone out and purposely didn’t look up at her. “No one invited Ms. Raincloud. If you’re here to pout and bitch, you know where the door is.”

Casey grabbed his phone out of his hands, so he finally looked up at her with a groan. “Yes, Ms. MacDonald? Do you have something you want to share with the class?”

“What is wrong with you?”

He folded his arms behind his back and leaned against his backboard. “You’ll have to be more specific. You seem to find many, many things wrong with me on a daily basis.”

Casey had her arms crossed and she was breathing heavily. As much as Derek liked pissing her off, he really was confused by her high levels of anger. There really didn’t seem to be anything he had done that day that was really bad, even by Casey’s definition. He liked basking in the glory of his bad deeds, so this was really annoying, needless to say.

“You can’t tell me that you already forgot about lunch. You totally embarrassed me in front of Marcus!”

“Who?”

“The new guy? The one who hasn’t been dragged into the world of Derek yet? The one who totally could have been a new friend or boyfriend if you hadn’t shown up!”

That sparked a very brief memory in Derek’s mind - he did remember stopping by Casey’s table, where she was eating with Emily and a new guy, Marcus apparently. Derek made some stupid joke about how the guy could do better than the school bootlicker, but it definitely wasn’t his best work. It was a stupid joke, even to his ears, and Emily had been the one to tell him to go away, because even she couldn’t believe how horrible his joke had been. He really could do better.

Honestly, it was stupid, but it wasn’t worthy of the huge levels of anger that were spewing out of every single of Casey’s pores.

“Wait, _that’s_ what this is about? You’re pissed at me because I suggested that the new guy could do better than you? When have you ever cared what I think about your friendships?”

Derek expected a quick retort or at least a gasp of outrage. What he most certainly did _not_ expect was a speechless Casey. She looked like a fish, but Derek was smart enough not to say anything. Her mouth was moving but no words were coming out. Derek would be amused if he wasn’t so weirded out by it all.

“Um, are you okay?”

“I _don’t_ care what you think!”

Derek raised his eyebrows. “It took you a good minute to come up with that? That’s weak, even for you. Please tell me you have a better comeback.”

Casey stepped closer to him, leaning over his bed just a bit. She wasn’t in his space, but she was close, and Derek’s pulse jumped a little. Outwardly, he looked unaffected (well, that was his hope), but in his head, he was focused on the way Casey’s hair fell in her face and a bit of cleavage was showing, pushed up by her crossed arms.

He had never admitted it out loud, but he knew that Casey was cute from the first time he saw her. It was easier to notice that when she was just a girl and not a potential stepsibling. Those thoughts didn’t go away just because Nora married his dad, though. Casey was always slim and strong thanks to her healthy eating and dance practices, and she knew what kind of makeup to use to make her good features look even better.

Again, Derek would never, ever admit that out loud. He might admit to eying her cleavage for a moment, but only because he was a guy and he knew it would piss Casey off even more. He still made sure to keep his eyes focused on Casey’s face after that initial slip.

“I think that you tried to run off Marcus on purpose,” Casey said, enunciating each word, like her statement was a lot more dramatic than it really was.

“Um, duh,” Derek replied.

Once again, that really threw her - damn, Casey was off her game that day.

Derek took pity on her - she was simply _that_ pathetic. “Of course I wanted to keep Marcus away from you. I don’t know if you noticed, but you’re not that fun to spend time with.”

Casey narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think that’s why you did it.”

“Okay, Ms. Know-It-All: tell me _why_ I did it, then, if you refuse to believe my very obvious and true answer.”

Casey got even closer, nearly folding her body in half and getting so close that a few stray hairs brushed against Derek’s cheeks. He didn’t react.

“I think you have feelings for me - not-sibling-or-family kinds of feelings.”

Now it was Derek’s turn to be speechless. What the hell was she talking about? Yes, he might acknowledge that her features and body all contributed to her attractiveness, and yes, he might have had some less-than-brotherly dreams about her, but he was only a human guy who recognized human beauty, and it’s not like he could control his own dreams. He was just a regular guy who had to spend way too much time with a female human who wasn’t related to him. That didn’t mean he had feelings! Derek Venturi didn’t have romantic f-feelings for Casey!

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Derek asked, practically tripping over his words.

“Why else would you want to scare away a cute guy who might be interested in me?”

“I didn’t see a guy who needed to get his eyesight tested - I saw a guy who deserved to know that you’re a keen, Type A obsessive!”

“Oh please, you can’t tell me that you haven’t been thinking about me! I’ve seen the looks, I’m not _blind_!”

Derek didn’t moon over girls, especially not _Casey_. Sure, he might linger every once in a while, like when Casey was smiling and her eyes were glowing or when she was doing some of her dance exercise while wearing tight yoga pants and a tank top, but that didn’t mean-

“Wait a second? How would you know that I was looking at you unless you were looking right back at me?”

Casey pulled back immediately, but Derek wasn’t ready to back down. He jumped to his feet and got just as close as Casey had been seconds earlier. She backed up until she was against the wall, but Derek kept pace with her easily. No, she wasn’t getting out of it that easily.

“Are you projecting onto me?”

Casey tried to scoff, but it sounded like she was being strangled. “What do you know about projecting?”

“I think I’ve seen enough TV shows and movies that involve shrinks and projecting to know that that’s exactly what you’re doing. You’re having not-real-sibling-appropriate thoughts about me, so you want to pretend that I’m the one who’s confused about my feelings. Well, let me tell you: I’m not confused about anything.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you don’t want Marvis, you want _me_.”

“Marcus.”

“Same difference.”

Casey was still breathing hard and her face was flushed, but she didn’t look angry anymore. In fact, her pupils looked bigger than normal, and it looked like her eyes dipped lower for a second, somewhere in the vicinity of his lips.

Derek was having definite not-real-sibling-appropriate thoughts at the moment, and unlike Casey, his blood wasn’t rushing to his face - it was going a bit lower. He stepped back a little.

“I think _you’re_ the one who’s projecting,” Casey said, but her voice was huskier than normal.

Derek always thought that Angry Casey was one of his favorite looks, but he was liking this look on her even more. He didn’t even care if he was feeling feelings and all that shit, he was just really, really happy with whatever this was.

“Are not,” he said with a smirk.

“Are too,” Casey said, but she whispered those two words. She was definitely alternating her gaze between his eyes and his lips, and he found his look going south as well.

Derek wasn’t sure who surged forward first - maybe it was both of them - but suddenly they were attached at the mouth. Casey was actually the one who opened her mouth first, giving his bottom lip a bite and then slipping her tongue in when he opened his mouth to growl at her. Her hands were in his hair, pulling and messing it up even more than usual, while one of his hands went to her waist and the other to her shoulder. Casey had turned off his music the second she came into his room, but her own music was still blasting next door, and Derek actually found himself grateful for that fact - it helped muffle the sound that Casey made when he moved to her neck.

God, he wanted to hear that noise again.

Derek was dimly aware that he had never seen Casey wear a turtleneck or scarf, but he made it his mission to make sure she had to wear _something_ tomorrow that would hide the mark he was happily making on her neck. Her head was leaning against the wall, her neck flushed. Derek had been close to her before - they wrestled for the remote enough that they got up close and personal, but it had definitely _not_ been like this. This was something new and he liked it.

Casey apparently felt the need to take control back from him, though, and he suddenly found himself being pushed backwards. Casey had both hands on his chest and she pushed him until his legs hit the bed and he fell into a seated position. Casey kept going, though, pushing him until he was laying down and she was above him, one leg next to his hip and the other still on the floor. She smiled a grin that Derek had never seen before but really, really liked, so he reached up for her face and pulled her down so that he could continue kissing her.

Derek had had some dreams about her - he had already admitted that to himself - but the real thing was so much better. His dreams didn’t capture the way Casey scrunched her nose when his kisses got sloppy and started to miss her mouth, or the way her fingers lightly ran over his stomach, tickling him in a way that should have annoyed him but made it even better. He hadn’t imagined how soft her skin was and how chapped her lips were, he hadn’t thought about how she was strong but not strong enough to hold her weight up forever. She collapsed onto him when her remaining leg gave out, and Derek just barely caught her. He pushed her to the side, rolling with her so that he was the one on top.

Derek’s fingers started to skim the bottom of Casey’s shirt, but Casey was the one who made the first real move when her fingers slipped under Derek’s own shirt. She started to push it up, her warm fingers brushing against his stomach and making him chuckle involuntarily. He reached down and put his hands over hers. Together, they both pushed his shirt up until he had to lean back to pull it off all the way.

Derek had experience with girls, and he knew that Casey had experience with a few boys of her own, but that didn’t stop both Casey from staring at his bare torso and Derek from blushing a bit. He was better built than he had been when Casey first moved in, but he was still nothing compared to Max. He was wiry, not big.

All embarrassment slipped away when he saw the look on her face, though: she was blushing, even more than she already had been from all the kissing, and her eyes were wide. She reached out for his shoulders and pulled him crashing down onto her, kissing him so soundly that he could barely breathe - and he was so fucking happy about that.

“Like what you see?” Derek managed to gasp out in between sloppy, open-mouthed kisses.

“You’re so cocky,” Casey said, giving his bottom lip a sharp bite. He had a feeling that she liked mixing pain and pleasure when it came to him.

“Oh, please don’t say that word right now,” Derek said as he became aware of just how constricting his jeans were.

The look on Casey’s face could only be described as unholy, a description that Derek had never thought could be applied to Casey but should be the main word to apply to her from now on. His breathing became even more erratic when he suddenly felt one of Casey’s hands skimming over his pants’ zipper. Now he was the one gasping into their kisses. Damn, Casey was turning him into a freaking middle school boy.

“I think we need a little tit for tat.”

“Excuse me?” Even while hot and bothered, Casey managed to sound superior when she was outraged.

“Take off the shirt, Case,” Derek said with a smirk.

Casey narrowed her eyes, but she was smirking herself. She pushed at his shoulders, sending them spinning again so that she was back on top. She reached down for the hem of her shirt and pulled it off in a way that started off alluring but became wonderfully Casey when her hair got caught in it for a few seconds. Derek had to reach up and help her, but it just made it even better when she was sitting up, her shirt off and her hair messy and cute. Her knees were now straddling his waist and she had one hand on his chest to keep her upright.

Casey was always pretty, but right now, she looked stunning from her spot on top of Derek. She was wearing a bright blue bra with one strap already falling off her shoulder and the little bow in between her breasts just hanging on by a thread. She looked way better than any lingerie model.

Now it was Casey’s turn to blush, and he was so happy to see that the pink stain went below her neck, dipping under the cups of her bra. She looked like she was about to say something, maybe run away and pretend that this had never happened, but Derek didn’t want that to happen.

So, he put his hand on hers, cradling it next to his rapidly-beating heart, and he looked into her eyes, even though her half-naked chest was _right there_. This wasn’t about hormones right now, this was about those damn feelings.

“Casey, you are the most annoying person I’ve ever met - let me finish, Case,” he quickly said when it was clear that Casey took offense to that. “We spend most of our time arguing, but we also stick up for each other when we really need it. We’re not family, though, so obviously we’re something. And you know it has to be a big deal, because I’m here, making this stupid speech, instead of ogling your breasts, and I’m even calling them breasts instead of some dumb slang like I would have before I met you. So please don’t run away before we figure out what the hell is happening between us.”

Casey looked like she might actually cry, so Derek was pretty proud of his little speech. Instead of crying, she reached back down to kiss him again, the kisses deeper and slower this time. She didn’t move to take off her bra and Derek didn’t try to do it himself. Apparently he was a real sap when Casey was involved.

By the time they put their clothes back on and fixed their appearances before heading down for dinner, they hadn’t gone any further. But, before the shirts came back on, Casey had asked, in a determined whisper, if he had a condom. She made sure to add “For next time,” but she also made it clear that next time might be soon. She even accented the question with a squeeze through his pants that had Derek _really_ feeling like a middle school boy - he’d have to do his own load of laundry instead of waiting for Nora or his dad to do it, that was for sure.

Derek wasn’t sure what they were, but he was absurdly excited to find out very, very soon. He’d even deal with the fucking feelings without complaint. Well, not too much complaining.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone finds out about Casey and Derek, one by one. Plenty of awkwardness ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long for me to write and very quickly edit (I apologize for any mistakes I missed - I'm horrible at editing), but here it is! Everyone in the Venturi-McDonald family finds out about Casey and Derek in different, awkward ways. And thank you so much for all of the love - it was very inspiring! ❤
> 
> And I apologize if you wanted smut or something E-rated - I'll read that stuff, but I can barely write romantic scenes, let alone sex scenes, and it would just be embarrassing to everyone if I tried.

The first person to discover them was Edwin. Really, they should have known that it would be him - all of the kids were snoops, but Edwin spent way too much time following after his big brother and trying to get in his head, which included going into his room without warning. That was how he found out.

The first few times Casey and Derek were alone together, they made sure to lock the door. It didn’t matter if they just wanted to argue about something that happened that day at school or during dinner - they both knew that those arguments were even more likely to lead to shedding clothes and messy kisses than typical romance-inducing moments, and they didn’t really have those as a hidden couple anyway. It was inevitable that they would forget eventually, and of course it happened when Edwin felt the need to come in without knocking.

“Hey, D-Rock, did you want to watch - what the hell are you two doing?!”

What they  _ had _ been doing was getting very, very close to needing that condom that Casey had brought up after the first time. Next time had come and gone without needing one, but there were a few times when they had just barely stopped at the last minute. Neither of them was waiting for the romantic moment with candles and such, but they were waiting for the time when it felt right, and it definitely didn’t feel right when they weren’t home alone.

That didn’t stop them from forgetting that there were other people in the house when the kisses and touches got really distracting. That was how they had forgotten that Edwin (and Lizzie) was home and that they had left the door unlocked.

Casey had been down to her underwear, her bra on the floor right in front of the door (and now Edwin, she noticed with much embarrassment). Luckily, Derek was currently on top of her and he shielded her long enough for her to grab his comforter from the floor and throw it over them. Derek still had his jeans on, so it wasn’t more than Edwin had already seen of his big brother, but Casey still just wanted to pretend that the comforter could keep Edwin from remembering that he had seen either of them.

“Edwin, get out!” Derek yelled.

“No, Edwin, stay and just shut the door!” Casey interrupted him. It was dark under the comforter, but there were some holes letting in light, so Casey saw the confused look that Derek shot her. She pushed him off and pulled the comforter around her so that she was completely covered other than her head. Derek grabbed his shirt from where it was hanging on his desk chair and pulled it on while Edwin closed the door and turned around, his hands on his eyes.

“I didn’t see anything, I didn’t see anything, I definitely didn’t see Casey’s - ow!”

Derek had thrown a notebook at Edwin before he could finish that last comment.

“Edwin, you have to swear that you won’t tell anyone what you saw here.  _ Nothing _ happened, okay?”

Edwin nodded his head vigorously without turning around. The back of his neck was bright red. “Nope, I didn’t see a thing.”

He left without another word, running into the door before remembering that it was shut. They could hear him running upstairs to his room. Casey waited until she heard his door shut before she relaxed and turned to Derek.

“He’s totally going to tell someone, isn’t he?”

Derek looked nervous, but he shook it off. “Probably. Might as well take advantage of the time we do have before the shit hits the fan.”

Casey glared at him, but she didn’t protest when he actually locked the door this time and pulled at the comforter. After all, what was the point in putting her clothes back on when they would only come back off later?

 

* * *

 

Against all odds, Edwin stayed silent.

At least, it sure seemed that way. Derek and Casey had even managed to have some alone time without anyone barging in or any awkward conversations with Nora and George. They should have known that Edwin wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut forever.

Somehow, they ended up together in the game closet. Derek knew that Edwin and Lizzie used it as an unofficial meeting place, but they were older - surely they didn’t do that anymore, right? So, when Casey grabbed him one afternoon and shoved him in without turning on the light, he wasn’t going to complain or worry, especially since Casey’s hands had immediately gone to his belt. Besides, this time they  _ were _ home alone.

Of course, they lost track of time. Casey had her hands in his boxers and he wasn’t thinking straight. They were horny teenagers, but they weren’t going to get naked in the freaking game closet, so they were still clothed and exploring what they could still do with those barriers. Derek had his hands up her shirt and Casey’s arms were tangled up with him. They weren’t paying attention to the time (Edwin and Lizzie were both supposed to be dropped off by friends before Marti and the parents returned), and they definitely didn’t hear the front door opening and closing and footsteps on the stairs. They were too caught up in each other and sloppy, open-mouthed kisses - they wouldn’t have even noticed the door to the game closet open if it weren’t for the fact that Casey was currently leaning against it.

When the door opened, Casey suddenly found herself falling backwards, with Derek landing on top of her in a heap of tangled limbs. His pants and belt were undone and Casey’s bra was unhooked and loose under her shirt.

They both looked up to see Lizzie staring down at them in shock and Edwin standing behind her looking just as embarrassed as he had the first time.

“Is this the deep, dark secret you were going to tell me?” Lizzie asked as she looked back at Edwin.

Derek and Casey both glared up at him. He held his hands up in protest. “Hey, I kept my lips sealed a lot longer than you two apparently did.”

Derek pushed himself to his feet, accidentally elbowing Casey in the stomach in the process. Derek briefly thought about listening to that voice in his head telling him to chase after his brother, but for once, the louder voice in his head was telling him to make sure that Casey was okay, so he listened to that instead.

Edwin had thought that Derek would chase him, so he was halfway up the stairs to his room before he realized that no one was following him. He and Lizzie both stared in shock at Derek, who was on his knees and asking Casey if she was alright. Casey seemed a little surprised, but not nearly as surprised as their siblings.

This time, Derek didn’t threaten his brother into silence. Casey gave her sister a sheepish expression, but she didn’t pull her aside for a long talk. Instead, they took advantage of the fact that everyone at home now knew about them and cuddled up on the couch together (Derek didn’t argue about the cuddling because Casey let him but his head in her lap and she massaged his scalp - plus, they were watching hockey, which definitely helped with the supposed girliness of snuggling). They knew that they would have to do some quick moving when their parents did come home, but they had enough time for Casey to grab the book she had purposely brought down and left on the coffee table as a decoy and for Derek to fling himself at his chair.

Their parents were none the wiser.

 

* * *

 

George was the first parent to discover their relationship - and it was definitely a relationship, even if Derek was still afraid to use labels.

They really needed to start double-checking that the door was locked - it would lead to a lot less problems. At least this time, they had the excuse of being asleep.

They had finally slept together a week ago, when everyone had been out of the house for the day. Since then, they had had sex a few more times, but this was the first time that Casey had stayed in his room over night. They had both changed into their pajamas and gotten ready for bed, but instead of going to her own room, Casey had followed Derek into his room when no one was watching. They always went to his room - there was something about her room that made it seem wrong to do anything more than kiss.

They had kissed each other until they had fallen asleep. Derek had had a shirt on when he first got in bed, and Casey had had some athletic shorts on, but both ended up on the floor before they finally fell asleep.

George had gone up to Derek’s room to wake him up early to see if he wanted to watch a hockey game, even though he knew Derek would care about his sleep more than a rerun - really, it was  _ because _ he knew that Derek would be unhappy that he did it in the first place. He certainly didn’t expect to see Casey in his son’s bed.

The first thing he noticed was the fact that Casey was there in the first place - then he noticed their state of undress. Casey was under the blanket - hogging it, really - but George could see bare shoulders, which was way more than he ever wanted to see of his stepdaughter. Derek’s legs were still tangled up in the blanket, but otherwise he was exposed, wearing just a pair of boxers. They were both on their sides, Derek’s arm slung over Casey’s waist and their hands clasped together. It would be a sweet sight if it weren’t for the fact that it was his son and his wife’s daughter together in that bed.

George had always known that Casey and Derek wouldn’t have a normal sibling relationship, even before they blended their families. They were too old, already in high school when they met each other, and there were just too many hormones happening to keep them in a solely platonic relationship. He hadn’t been worried about the younger kids, but he always knew that Casey and Derek would probably be trouble.

He backed out of the room as silently as possible. It was a sweet sight, despite how they had come together in the first place, and he didn’t want to ruin that. When Derek came downstairs, though, he was so totally grounded.

_ Oh god, I’m going to have to tell Nora _ , George realized as he went down the stairs, still tiptoeing. Maybe he would go ahead and ground Casey himself, just so that he didn’t have to worry about telling her. Maybe Casey and Derek could learn how to be more discreet.

 

* * *

 

They were discreet - for about a month. Then they found themselves alone in the house again.

“Where are Dad and Nora again?” Derek asked as he followed Casey into the house. They had spent a few minutes making out in the car a block away from the house before Casey remembered that no one would be home at that moment. Derek had gone nearly double the speed limit on a residential street - it was a good thing that they were only a block away.

“They’re at parent-teacher conference night for Lizzie and Edwin. They’re both there, too, stuck hanging around until it’s over.”

“So we have the house to ourselves?” Derek asked with a wicked-looking grin.

A few months ago, Casey would have groaned at the sight of that grin. She might yell his name, bisecting it into two clear syllables in a satisfying way. She might even throw something at him.

This time, she just threw herself at him.

Derek knew what she was thinking, so he managed to catch her when she collided with him, her legs sliding around his waist and her arms locking around his neck. Casey immediately connected their lips, her tongue slipping in without a second thought. She grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked, and Casey wasn’t sure if the groan that slipped from Derek’s mouth was from the pain or the fact that she had tightened her legs around him.

Derek was strong, but he wasn’t that strong, so he only lasted on his feet for another ten seconds or so before he lowered Casey down onto the couch, never pulling back from her. He made quick work of his jeans, doing his best to pull them down while still kissing her. It took them a minute of fumbling and further kissing before Derek finally sat up with a groan so that he could properly take them off.

Casey was wearing a skirt that day, a fact that she consciously decided on when she was getting dressed that morning. Derek pushed her skirt up while also pawing at her shirt sleeves. They both pushed the shirt off, and as Derek turned to toss it over the side of the couch, Casey used the opportunity to flip them over. They got tangled for a moment, but Casey eventually came out on top.

She looked odd - she was down to just a pale pink bra and her black skirt, bunched around her stomach - but from the way Derek looked up at her, you would have thought that she was wearing her best dress and had spent hours on her hair and makeup. Derek could really drive her up the wall sometimes (both romantically and irritatingly), but he could also make her feel better than anyone else in the world.

Of course, it was that moment that Marti walked in.

“What are you doing? Where’s your shirt, Casey?”

Casey’s eyes widened larger than she thought possible. The only saving grace in this situation was that, because Marti had come in from the kitchen and Casey and Derek were on the couch, with Derek beneath her, Marti couldn’t actually see Derek. At least, Casey was pretty sure. She dug her fingers into Derek’s bicep in an attempt to tell him to stay quiet.

“Oh, nothing, I just got, um, something on my shirt. I was too lazy to go upstairs and change, and I thought I was alone, so…”

The words stopped tumbling out of Casey’s mouth as she saw just how little Marti believed her.

“I’m not six anymore, you know. I watch TV,” Marti said firmly.

Casey blushed, the pink spreading lower than her face, which Marti could clearly see. Casey had almost forgotten that she was sitting there in nothing but her bra. She reached down to grab something, anything, to cover her chest with - and, of course, she somehow found Derek’s shirt. He had tried to cover his face with it while Casey was talking to Marti, but it just meant that it was within her reach.

And, of course, it was very obviously Derek’s shirt, a fact that Casey didn’t notice until it was draped across her chest. She looked down at it when she saw the way Marti’s eyes widened, just like her own just a moment before.

“Oh, shit,” she said. She was thrown off guard as Marti rushed forward and looked over the couch.

“Smerek? What are you two doing?”

“Um, nothing, Smarti. Just, just go upstairs.”

Marti glared at him. “I already told you, I’m not a baby anymore. I know what gross things teenagers do when they’re alone. Next time, make sure you’re actually alone before doing any of that grossness.”

With that, she turned around and went upstairs, muttering about teenagers and horse-mones, leaving Casey and Derek alone.

They gathered up their various articles of clothing in silence. Derek glanced over at Casey as she pulled her shirt back on.

“What do we do now?”

“What?” Casey turned to him as she pulled her skirt back down and attempted to smooth her hair down. “You aren’t suggesting that we keep making out while Marti is upstairs and knows exactly what’s going on, are you? Don’t tell me that you’re that horny.”

“I mean, in general - god, you’re the one who sounds like you only have one thing on your mind right now. What should we do about… about us?”

Casey raised her eyebrows. “I don’t think I’ve heard you call us an ‘us’ before, unless you were trying to get in my pants.”

Derek smirked. “I think it’s obvious that I’m always trying to get in your pants, especially in the last couple of months. Who’s trying to avoid talking about feelings now?”

Casey sighed. “Fine, I am. I just don’t know what to tell you.”

Derek turned his body on the couch so that he was looking straight at Casey, his knee warm against her hip. “Think about it - everyone has found us by now. We’re no good at hiding this, that’s for sure.”

“I don’t think Mom knows about us,” she said, but it was a weak argument, both in theory and in her voice.

Derek rolled his eyes. “I know that Dad said that he wasn’t going to say anything, but do you really think he’ll be able to hide it for much longer? Your mom is going to find out from him sooner or later, and even if, by some miracle, she doesn’t, someone else might let it slip, or she’ll find us just like everyone else has. Our track record is pretty shit right now.”

Casey sighed. “Yeah, I finally broke down and told Emily the truth - I couldn’t stand not being able to talk to her about it.”

“And think about it: how did she react? I bet it wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be.”

“Fine, it wasn’t. She was a little shocked at first, but I think that was more because she’s so used to crushing on you that she almost forgot that she doesn’t like you anymore.”

“Um, ouch,” Derek said in a mock offended voice. “But that just proves my point: everyone who knows us, really knows us, isn’t really that shocked when they find out. I mean, they’re kind of shocked when they have to see you topless - ow, please don’t hit me again - but they get over it quickly. My dad mostly yelled at us about protection and ‘not under my roof while I’m under said roof and might have to walk in on you’ and all of that. He never even forbid us from being together, and I don’t think that’s simply because he was worried about forbidden fruit and all that shit. You know why that is.”

“Because George is horrible at articulating himself?”

“No, it’s because he’s not surprised. People might be surprised when they find out about us, but they get over it, because it makes sense.  _ We _ make sense together. And you know that I have to be right if I’m talking about damn feelings.”

Casey bit her lip as she looked at Derek. He looked so genuine, like it almost hurt for him to say what he was saying, but it would hurt even more if he  _ didn’t _ say it, if he didn’t suggest starting something real. And she would be lying if she said that she hadn’t been thinking about it, first late at night, but lately more and more during her wide-awake moments, when she was just looking at Derek across the dinner table or walking down the hall, that ever-present and irritating smirk on his face. She had been thinking about it, and she knew it was written all over her face every time she looked at Derek.

She wasn’t quite ready to admit it, though. “So, what are you saying - that we try to be a real couple? That we go out on dates and kiss each each other in public and use the words ‘girlfriend’ and ‘boyfriend’ in front of our parents, who also happen to be married to each other?”

Derek leaned forward, putting both hands on Casey’s shoulders. “I know that you can get way too caught up in what other people think, but I’m asking you to let it go for once. Don’t worry about idiots gossiping about us or saying that it’s wrong even though we’re not actually related and didn’t grow up together. Don’t think about the future or more serious stuff. Just let us try this out and see where it goes, without worrying about anything for once.”

“How are you managing to both sound so utterly Not-Derek and so very Derek all at once?” Casey asked, but she was smiling, and they both knew that Derek was going to win.

But it was obvious that they were both winning in this situation. Sure, they would have to sit through a very awkward and long speech with Nora and George after they officially came out as a real couple - a talk that included rules about not being in each other’s bedrooms unless the door was open and no PDA in front of the family - and yes, they were still Casey and Derek, so they would end up arguing as much as they found themselves in bed together (no matter how stern the speech, they still found ways around the new rules). But they were now officially Casey and Derek, Real Couple, and that was a real win for them.

And, when they moved in together during university, even their parents had to admit that they might be winning - after all, they only had to help pay the rent for one apartment instead of two. At least, they was what they told themselves whenever they remembered that the apartment only had one bedroom and one very big bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you so much for the comments and kudos - they definitely motivated me to finally get this chapter written. It's great to see love for a story, especially when people want to see more! ❤

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually going to be a two-parter - this story was kind of inspired by a dream, and that dream included (or maybe just made me think of this when I was awake) family discovering things, so I want to do a sequel/continuation where the various family members learn that Casey and Derek are now Casey And Derek. I think it's going to involve a lot of awkwardness, embarrassment, and Casey And Derek goodness. No telling, though, because I haven't written it yet, so we'll have to wait and see how long it takes me to actually write it.


End file.
